Unprepared – First Time Guiding a Dive

We’d just come out of the water, ready for a break before the next dive when he said to me “how many times have you been diving at Siaba Basar?”.

An odd question coming from the trip director aboard the liveaboard during my DMT course, but one that became clear when he’d told me I’d be leading the next dive there… Solo.

He had developed some troubles with his sinuses the day before, and it was starting to cause him problems. He decided to sit out on the dive, and have me guide the remaining two guests aboard the boat.

He drew me a map of the site, told me to swim south from the mooring line until I hit the reef, and then I should move west along that. It sounded simple.

With a quick backroll out of the boat, the three of us descended beneath the surface and straight on to a bommie. All was going as planned. After some quick exploration, we ventured out into the sandy bottom towards (I hoped) the reef. As we moved slowly forward, the current picked up. I’d been told it would be pushing us ever so slightly south INTO the reef. What we found though, was a current pushing us in exactly the opposite direction. And it was anything but mild.

Stopping to watch a sleeping turtle for a moment, I quickly realised we’d be getting nowhere if we continued, so we turned around and returned the way we came, eventually (thankfully) stumbling across a new reef to explore.

With the current still pushing us along, it was difficult to check things out.

I was barely able to find anything exciting, let alone show our guests anything cool at the site.

This was my first time acting as a dive guide.

It was terrifying.

Have you guided a dive before? Or maybe you’ve had a bad experience with a guide? Let me know in the comments!